The river press., 1887-04-06
RIVER AND RAILROAD.
Five Electric Lighted Steamers tt
Plow the Upper Big Muddy
This Season.
Grading the Manitoba to Begin at Great
Falls and be Pushed Eastward as
Rapidly as Possible
RIVER NEWS.


The steamer Rosebud commenced load
ing Yesterday and will probably leave to-
day for Fort Benton. We may certainly
look for her on the Goth. 4s.--
The transportation company have
agreed that for certain rates they will de-
liver freight here before the 9TH of May.
Capt. Joe Todd, the s'old reliable," will
have command of the steamer Rosebud
this year. Capt. Todd has been on the
river, man and boy, for nearly twenty
years, and what he does not know about
the tortuous Missouri no one can tell him.
He belongs to a steamboat family. His
father, Capt. John Todd, and his uncles
are all well know river men and. they
have all secured competencein in the trade
of the Missouri. It caused a pang to Capt.
Joe's friends when two years ago he an
nounced determination to leave the river
and engage in agricultural pursuits. He
could not keep away, and last year he
came up smiling as of old. Capt. Todd is
the most popular captain on the river and
has more friends than any other steamboat
captain that ever entered this port.
Capt. I. P. Baker, of the block P line, is
having electric light plants placed on four
more of the boats of the company in order
that no time may be.lost in laying up dark
nights as has been the custom heretofore.
There will be five electric lighted steam
on the upper river this year. :.
Commodore Power writes that the first
boats will load both oats and potatoes for
seed. This will be good news for our
ranchmen, as seed oats and potatoes are
mighty scarce in this section of the terri
tory just now.
The engineers will probably be here on
one of the first boats. The latest from
them was to the effect that they would
start about the first of April.
RAILROAD.
It is stated on the best of authority that
grading on the Manitoba railway will
commence at Great Falls and be continued
east until the graders moving west meet
them, both completing their work as they
go on. This good news is confirmed by
the statement of Commissioner Wegner to
the effect that a great many graders with
teams and grading implements and mate
rial are now waiting in the vicinity of
Great Falls to begin werk &s u =
A great many people living in this Sec
tion cannot begin to realize what this
means for Fort Benton. It is an assur-
ance that our city will for the next few
months be one of the liyliest towns in the
northwest. This will be the base
of supplies for all of the contractors
and workmen for distance of more than
two hundred miles. 1t is even now being
felt, as the several parties of engineers
have been buying supplies here during the
past winter and the demand will steadily
increase until the road is completed. 1t
means to Fort Benton that good times are
coming again; that the busy scenes of
1873 10 1882 will be repeated, only on a
larger scale. Even now the confidence
inspired in our town is increasing. Own
ers of property are more reluctant to sell
than they were few months before the
railroad became reality. The. railroad
means everything for Fort Benton and
northern Montana